As our colleagues at the WSJ’s Law Blog report , California Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bunch of new laws into effect over the weekend, including one banning the use of tanning beds by minors. Previously Golden State teens were able to use commercial tanning beds with a parent’s consent; now they’re out of luck, even if Mom and Dad approve, Reuters reports . (That puts tanning in the same bucket as purchasing cigarettes and getting a tattoo.) The Melanoma Research Alliance, in a statement, applauded the move, citing research linking indoor tanning to skin cancer — specifically the most dangerous form, melanoma. Indeed, the International Agency for Research on Cancer did add indoor tanning to its list of carcinogens in 2009; the evidence it relied on found a link, albeit a weak one, between melanoma and sunbed use . (Specifically, that research review didn’t find a dose-response relationship — i.e. risk didn’t go up with more indoor tanning.) More recently, research published last year suggested that people who tanned indoors had a

74% higher chance of developing melanoma than those who didn’t. An author of the study told us then that the study was in line with previous research on melanoma and sun exposure, which has indicated that the risk of cancer rises with sunburns and intermittent exposure to UV rays (as you get with a once-a-year vacation or sunbathing sessions). Studies haven’t shown, however, a link between melanoma and total or chronic sun exposure. The Indoor Tanning Association, in a statement , says “there is no consensus among researchers that normal non-burning exposure to ultraviolet light, whether from the sun or a sun bed, has any effect on the development of melanoma.” It criticized the California legislature and governor for their action, saying it will further ding the state’s indoor tanning industry — already hurting from the recession — and means teens will just end up sunbathing outside. Health Blog readers, should teens be banned from indoor tanning? Photo: iStockphoto

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Should Teens Be Banned From Indoor Tanning?